Spoilers TOS: The Face of the Unknown by Christopher L. Bennett Review Thread

[Markonian]

Yeah. I couldn't find a good candidate for a third early mission of Kirk's that involved a mentor figure, so I just made something up.

So, Arkoni is the Arkonians' homeworld?
A part of me had been hoping it would be revealed as Arkon someday.*

* In the oldest ongoing German science fiction novel series, Perry Rhodan, the galaxy is largely ruled by Terrans and Arkonids. The Arkonids rule from three planets Arkon I-III. First contact occurred in 1971/2036 (depending on continuity) when Major Rhodan encountered an Arkonian ship on Luna.

 

[Quimby]

I really enjoyed this. The explanation for how there could be an entire Federation in such a small space was ingenious. I also liked the insight into Spock's character. It was spot on. Creating rational explanations for some of the weirdness of TOS is what makes many of these novels so fun and this is no exception.

 

[bok2384]

Just started reading this today. 2016 saw me become increasingly fatigued with TrekLit, but reading through this thread and seeing the response to this novel peaked my curiosity.

Enjoyed the first couple of chapters and I'm loving this so far, especially the brief reference to one of my favourite old school novels, The Covenant of the Crown.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

So, Arkoni is the Arkonians' homeworld?
A part of me had been hoping it would be revealed as Arkon someday.*

Why did I suddenly think about the classic video game, Arkanoid?

At any rate, yesterday, I finally finished Lynn Sherr's biography of Sally Ride (excellent, but slow, and rather emotionally draining in places), and so last night, I finally began the present opus. So far, excellent. Nice seeing Carter Winston's old fiancee.

Were you actually going out of your way to have Spock say, "Neotenous"?

Now about 25% into it. Personally, I loved "The Corbomite Maneuver."

Spoiler

The Dassik don't seem like very nice people.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

What a ride. A definite E-ticket. And if there's a parable in here about global warming, and about extremist politicians who care more about power, and about being right, than about WORKING THE PROBLEM, well, SOBEIT.

Spoiler

And having the Dassik and the Linnik turn out to be opposite sides of the same coin, well, I've seen a lot of that: the urRu and the Skeksis, of Thra, and a bit closer to home, Fundamentalists and Atheists are both products of (and devout believers in) the fundamentally flawed notion that miracles must violate the laws of physics (laws that are themselves miraculous).

 

[Christopher]

Spoiler

Regarding the Dassik and the Linnik, my original idea was that the Scary Balok Puppet People were actually a later phase in the life cycle of Balok's species, which they'd used science to suppress and which had somehow re-emerged recently. The two phases would be the First and the Second, hence "First Federation." But that was too similar to the plight of the alien race in Seekers Books 1-2, so I revamped them to be related species. And my final explanation for the name "First Federation" is, I think, a major improvement.

 

[David cgc]

Oh, look, I haven't commented on the book yet. Well, someone already mentioned, but I want to reiterate, that I liked the form of the recap of "Corbomite," considering that that topic had recently come up again on the board. I also thought that if this novel had come out last summer, and I didn't know better, I would've thought it was a sly tie-in with "Beyond." Aside from the opening quote about "things temporarily hidden," there was a massive artificial habitat, the antagonists ships could split apart into smaller units to overwhelm their targets, and even an accented Federation official who comes in to bookend the story. I know it's all superficial and coincidental, but I thought it was fun all the same.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Spoiler: Re: Christopher's spoiler-tagged reply to my spoiler

Agreed, and in particular, I agree that the final version is much better than the preliminary. And I might add that just because the Linnik/Dassik revelation was not particularly surprising doesn't make it any less satisfying.

 

[Christopher]

I also thought that if this novel had come out last summer, and I didn't know better, I would've thought it was a sly tie-in with "Beyond." Aside from the opening quote about "things temporarily hidden," there was a massive artificial habitat...

The starbase in Beyond would be a speck compared to a single Cherelan world module.

the antagonists ships could split apart into smaller units to overwhelm their targets

An extrapolation from how Balok's pilot vessel could separate from the Fesarius. And they could only split into 4-5 segments each.

and even an accented Federation official who comes in to bookend the story.

I guess you listened to the audiobook. I don't think I mentioned Gopal having any particular accent.

 

[David cgc]

I guess you listened to the audiobook. I don't think I mentioned Gopal having any particular accent.

I actually checked out the excerpt after you mentioned how good the voices were, about a week before I picked up the paperback. I did pay attention when she was introduced, and I thought I saw some subtle mention in her description that might've given the narrator the idea.

 

[Christopher]

I actually checked out the excerpt after you mentioned how good the voices were, about a week before I picked up the paperback. I did pay attention when she was introduced, and I thought I saw some subtle mention in her description that might've given the narrator the idea.

Not that I can see in the text, aside from her having an Indian name. I guess the audiobook makers figured that giving her an accent would help differentiate her from the other characters.

 

[David cgc]

Double checking, I suppose it was the first name that I took to be the cue. I guess my bias is to assume someone with a conspicuously non-western personal name probably isn't americanized (that, and I was primed by listening to the audiobook excerpt).

Of course, I also thought "Damayanti" looked eastern-European (it's that "ti" at the end), or else I would've described her and Paris as both being Indian.

 

[Christopher]

Double checking, I suppose it was the first name that I took to be the cue. I guess my bias is to assume someone with a conspicuously non-western personal name probably isn't americanized (that, and I was primed by listening to the audiobook excerpt).

I think that's probably an outdated idea, as the country becomes more diverse. Also, Americans aren't the only English-speaking people in the world. There are plenty of ethnically Indian people in Great Britain, for instance. If anything, I think I imagined Gopal having an English accent.

 

[YLu]

Double checking, I suppose it was the first name that I took to be the cue. I guess my bias is to assume someone with a conspicuously non-western personal name probably isn't americanized (that, and I was primed by listening to the audiobook excerpt).

In my own purely anecdotal experience, there's much more of a tendency towards adopting English names among certain cultures than others. Most Chinese-Americans I've met, whether immigrants or ABCs, have an English name they'll use. In contrast, the vast majority of Indian-Americans I've met, including those born in the US, do not.

 

[Christopher]

My experience in this area is mainly with actors, but the Indian-American or Anglo-Indian actors I'm aware of tend to keep their real names -- Vijay Amritraj, Parminder Nagra, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Anjli Mohindra, etc. Although there are exceptions -- Kal Penn is really Kalpen Suresh Modi.

And I expect that in the future, the custom of Anglicizing Asian names would become less common as the population of the West gets more diverse and more accustomed to multiculturalism. Although Star Trek's future, of course, has tended to be portrayed as far more America-centric than is likely to be realistic.

 

[Markonian]

Starbase Yorktown is super-massive. I'd have expected the modules to be the same size. You're saying they're even bigger? That boggles my mind.

Christopher, are you going to listen to the audiobook yourself at some point?

On anglicising names, I've done it with since I've been living in Ireland and England, and my name is European to begin with. English doesn't lend itself to transcribe every sound Humans speak routinely. At work, I often have colleagues ask me how to pronounce customer names, because as a German I can simply pronounce them as they're written.

 

[Christopher]

Starbase Yorktown is super-massive. I'd have expected the modules to be the same size. You're saying they're even bigger? That boggles my mind.

According to Yorktown's designer Sean Hargreaves, Yorktown is 40 miles (64 km) in diameter. That's 82% the length of V'Ger, 20% the diameter of Yonada, a bit over half the diameter of the first Death Star. Actually not that big as space megastructures go. The first world module the Enterprise encountered on Cherela was 1,180 km in diameter. Okay, so Yorktown would be more than a speck in comparison -- about the size of the smaller module the ship was tractored to a few pages later.

Christopher, are you going to listen to the audiobook yourself at some point?

I haven't been provided with a copy yet.

 

[stardream]

I just finished reading it and liked it. I think a lot of fans have been curious about the First Federation and it was good to see it explored. Enjoyed the scenes that focused on Chekov, Sulu, and Uhuru. I tried to pace myself, reading a chapter a day but upon reaching the halfway point I had to keep going. Very good.

 

[Plaristes]

Finished reading it last night. Not Christopher's best (those are still The Buried Age and the DTI novels), but still very enjoyable. I rated it "Above Average." The exploration of the First Federation's engineering feats and history was fascinating. Very much looking forward to the annotations. I also couldn't help but see a parallel to contemporary debates over climate change. I hope that industrial sabotage and/or terrorism isn't required in our own case before politicians set aside agendas/prejudice and finally address the issue.

 

[Christopher]

I also couldn't help but see a parallel to contemporary debates over climate change. I hope that industrial sabotage and/or terrorism isn't required in our own case before politicians set aside agendas/prejudice and finally address the issue.

Well, the governments of nearly 200 countries around the world did act last year to address the issue and implement a sweeping, legally binding global plan to deal with it, the Paris Agreement. It's already ratified and in force, even though it doesn't go nearly far enough. The danger now is that the incoming US administration wants to reverse it. The process of climate reform is far enough along now that it probably can't be stopped -- other nations and many US state and local governments are still committed to it, and green energy has become so affordable that market forces now work in favor of climate reform rather than against it -- but anything that slows it down is dangerous.